"Daniel Marcus - Ex Vitro" - читать интересную книгу автора (Marcus Daniel)

about the size of dogs. Methane-breathers, they basked in the shallows of
Titan's ammonia seas and fed on anything organicтАФthe primitive lichen
that grew in sporadic patches on the moon's rough surface, the glittering
chunks of hydrocarbon ice scattered like moraine across the landscape,
even each other.

Jax could watch them for hours. They exhibited behavior not unlike
schooling or flocking, merging in geometric clusters, shifting, forming new
patterns. Individually, they seemed less sensate than bees; their central
nervous system consisted of nothing more than a small knot of ganglia at
the wider end, where there was a cluster of light-sensitive vision patches.
They were living cellular automataтАФeach responding only to
nearest-neighbor stimuli. Collectively, though, from the local interactions,
there emerged a complex, evolving pattern.

The fog was thick again, a uniform shroud. It seemed to glow with a
dim, pearly light of its own. Jax wondered about the slugs outside, what
they were doing. He closed his eyes and in that darkness he imagined a
slowly shifting pattern of glowing points, an elongated oval surrounding a
hard, geometric figure of sharp edges and straight lines.




II

Maddy took another leaf from the small pile of lettuce in the colander
and put it in her mouth. The taste was so bittersweet green, so substantial
and earthy, that it brought tears to her eyes.

"The new crop of lettuce is really good," she said. "I think I finally got
the 'ponics chemistry down."

"About time," Jax said. He looked up from the catfish he was cleaning.
Fresh from the tank-farm, its bright organs spilled out on the cutting
board. Blood streaked his hands and the smell of it was strong and sharp
in the little galley. "The last batch had that weird, rotten aftertaste. I kept
waiting for the cramps to start."

"Well, fuck you, then." The words seemed to materialize in the air
between them, as if they had come from somewhere separate from her.
She felt color rising to her cheeks, but there was no place to go but
forward. "Anytime you want the job, you just say so."

Jax looked startled and hurt. He wiped his cheek, leaving a bloody
streak, and bent down to his work again. His large hands were quick and
sure. Maddy could feel the tension between them like a third presence in
the room. She took a deep breath and let it out. Again. In, I calm my body.
Out, dwelling in the present moment. In, listen, listen. Out, the sound of
my breathing brings me back to my true self.